Doing Research on the Internet: Cautionary Note

"So, Dr. Hauser," you ask, "what can I do to steer clear of the crackpot notions and faux `facts'? How do I distinguish the incredible and discreditable from the true and the trustworthy? How do I avoid the potholes on the information superhighway?" The following suggestions may help:

• Use your common sense. If it has a certain supermarket-checkout-line quality about it -- if it seems wildly implausible in a sensational sort of way -- that's a bad sign. Reports of miracles are probably false.
• Consider the source:
1. The credentials of the (individual or institutional) author of the "information." If www.stanford.edu/physics reports the discovery of a new force; that's credible. If www.psychic_hotline.com reports the same; that's not. If the author is an individual, consider their degrees, publications, & institutional affiliations: look at their C.V. (Curriculum Vitae: their academic resume). If their web page includes no such information, wonder why. Also, if the spelling and grammar are bad, suspect the "information" and ideas expressed to be of like quality.
2. The interestedness or disinterestedness of the author of the "information." If the R. J. Reynolds site has skads of "information" "proving" that cigarette smoke is really good for you take it with a grain of salt. In fact, pass the shaker. If www.harvard.edu/medicine reports the same; pass the smokes.
• Multiply your sources. Idiocy tends to be idiosyncratic. Sapience is apt to be shared. In general, the more sources who agree on X, the more likely it is that X is true; especially if you also heed the next.
• Balance your sources. Checking & comparing the "information" you find at www.pro_life.com, against the "information" at www.pro_choice.com is apt to be useful and edifying. Checking & comparing the "information" you find at www.pro_life against that at www.stop_abortion_now, is apt to be less so.
• Read critically, like a philosopher; not with a "this is so" attitude -- the sort of attitude appropriate to reading a science or history textbook -- but with an "is that so?" attitude; even with a chip on your shoulder. Habits of mind appropriate to reading philosophy (where all is open to question, where all is subject to doubt) are also appropriate to what you find on the net.
• Use the sources provided here.

others' resources/advice Evaluating Internet Research Sources Evaluation of Information Sources Bibliography on Evaluating Internet Resources

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